830 



VICTORIA, QUEEN. 



VIRGINIA. 



position of strict neutrality. All parties were 

 anxious that the Queen should have the guid- 

 ance and support of a husband. Thus > urged, 

 the Queen consented to a marriage with her 

 cousin, Prince Albert, Duke of Saxe, Prince 

 of Coburg and Gotha, which took place in the 

 Chapel Royal at St. James's, on Monday, Feb- 

 ruary 10, 1840. Her Majesty has issue : 1. 

 Victoria, Adelaide, Princess Royal, born No- 

 vember 21, 1840 ; married January 25, 1858, 

 to the Crown Prince Frederick William of 

 Prussia. 2. Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, 

 born November 9, 1841 ; married March 10, 

 1863, to Princess Alexandra of Denmark. 3. 

 Alice Maud Mary, Duchess of Saxony, born April 

 25,1843; married July 1,1862, to Prince Ludwig 

 of Hesse-Darmstadt. 4. Alfred Ernest Albert, 

 Duke of Edinburgh, born August 6, 1844 ; mar- 

 ried January 23, 1874, to Grand Duchess Marie 

 of Russia. 5. Helene Augusta Victoria, born 

 May 26, 1846 ; married July 5, 1866, to Prince 

 Christian of Schles wig- Hoi stein. 6. Louisa 

 Caroline Alberta, born March 18, 1848; mar-' 

 ried March 21, 1871, to the Marquis of Lome, 

 Viceroy of Canada. 7, Arthur Patrick, Duke 

 of Connaught, born May 1, 1850 ; married 

 March 13, 1879, to Princess Margaret Louisa 

 of Prussia. 8. Leopold George Duncan Albert, 

 born April 7, 1853. 9. Beatrice Mary Victoria 

 Feodore, born April 14, 1857. The Prince 

 Consort was born August 26, 1819, and had 

 therefore not completed his twenty-first year 

 when he was called to fill the place nearest to 

 the throne. By the influence of his life and 

 the example of his home, he strengthened the 

 hold of the monarchy upon the affections of 

 the people. The moral dignity of the Court 

 was upheld. He understood the spirit of the 

 English Constitution, and the Queen had ever 

 by her side a dispassionate and judicious ad- 

 viser. Imbued with the love of art, he became 

 its chief patron and reviver. His sudden death 

 on the 14th of December, 1861, was an over- 

 whelming loss to the Queen and the nation. 

 Since that time her Majesty has in a great 

 measure withdrawn from public and court cere- 

 monials, but she has not in her seclusion re- 

 laxed her watchfulness over the interests of 

 her realm, nor failed to perform any of her 

 duties as sovereign. On March 16, 1861, the 

 Duchess of Kent died after a short illness. On 

 Saturday, December 14, 1878, on the anniver- 

 sary of her father's death, the Princess Alice 

 sank under a virulent attack of- diphtheria. 

 This disease had stricken her children and car- 

 ried off one of them. When this death was 

 announced to a brother, the child threw him- 

 self into his mother's arms. In defiance of her 

 physician's counsel the mother returned the 

 embrace, and this proved to her the kiss of 

 death. The Princess Alice was the loveliest 

 of the Queen's daughters. She was regarded 

 in her own family and by the English people 

 with peculiar tenderness, due to her gentle 

 character and to the attentions which she lav- 

 ished at the death-bed of Prince Albert, and 



again during the long and alarming illness of 

 the Prince of Wales. The frarst of loyalty 

 which followed his recovery, and the sympa- 

 thy which has been shown at each fresh be- 

 reavement that has saddened the royal family, 

 prove the affection and honor which the Queen 

 has won as daughter, wife, and mother. Dur- 

 ing the political convulsions which have altered 

 the face of Continental Europe, the English 

 throne has stood firm. The Conservative and 

 Liberal parties have been almost equally bal- 

 anced. The Prime Ministers who have suc- 

 ceeded Lord Melbourne, viz., Sir Robert Peel, 

 Lord John Russell, the Earl of Derby, Lord 

 Aberdeen, Lord Pahnerston, Mr. Gladstone, 

 and Mr. Disraeli (created Viscount Beacons 

 field), have each in turn supported the honor 

 of England at home and abroad. The Crimean 

 war, the Indian mutiny, the Abyssinian war, 

 and the wars now in progress with the Afghans 

 and the Zulus, show that England has main- 

 tained its military strength. Wise statesman- 

 ship and a resort to arbitration have prevented 

 other wars. The chartist riots, the Irish fam- 

 ine, and the Indian disturbances have not weak- 

 ened the empire. Commerce, arts, and litera- 

 ture have been fostered. To the cares of state 

 her Majesty has added those of authorship. 

 " The Early Days of H. R. H. the Prince Con- 

 sort" was published in 1867, and was followed 

 in 1869 by "Leaves from the Journal of our 

 Life in the Highlands." 



Her Majesty spends a portion of each year 

 at Balmoral Castle in Scotland. Osborne in 

 the Isle of Wight is the home built by the 

 Prince Consort, where they sought recreation 

 after the cares and splendors of Buckingham 

 Palace and Windsor Castle. The Queen has 

 made various Continental tours to Coburg, the 

 birthplace of Prince Albert, and to Berlin; 

 and she visited France during the reigns of 

 Louis Philippe and of the Emperor Napo- 

 leon III. 



In 1877 her Majesty assumed the additional 

 title of Empress of India. In 1878 she was 

 represented at the Berlin Conference by Lord 

 Salisbury and Lord Beaconsfield, on whom she 

 bestowed the Order of the Garter in recogni- 

 tion of their success in securing " peace with 

 honor." Though territorial acquisitions and 

 prndent legislation illustrate her reign, she is 

 chiefly endeared to her people by her domestic 

 virtues. Foreigners as well as Britons readily 

 admit that 



.... she sways all hearts 

 By right divine of spotless womanhood. 



VIRGINIA. The subject of the public debt 

 excited more interest in the State during the 

 year than any other. Notwithstanding arrange- 

 ments for its settlement had been made in 1872 

 and 1873 (see "Annual Cyclopaedia "), the in- 

 terest was not regularly paid, the appropriation 

 for schools was contributed only in part, and, by 

 reason of the reception of the coupons of the 

 bonds for taxes, the Treasury was almost with- 

 out money. It was very evident when the ses- 



